“We must remove statues and flags that represent this country’s abhorrent history of slavery and oppression based on the color of people’s skin. It is the right thing to do. During this troubling time when neo-Nazis and white power groups are escalating their racist activity, Seattle needs to join with cities and towns across the country who are sending a strong message by taking these archaic symbols down.

“The monument to Confederate soldiers in the Lake View Cemetery is located on private property. My office has called the cemetery operator to express our concerns regarding the monument. As we continue our ongoing proactive work to be an inclusive and welcoming community, we must also join the fight against the mainstreaming of hateful and despicable far-right political ideology.”

Describing the solution as a unique one-off — not precedent-setting — officials finally have a back-to-school plan to reopen the Lowell ElementaryS Path — the short, curving pathway connecting Federal and 11th Ave E that has been fenced off since the start of last school year due to safety concerns over homeless camping and drug use.

“It’s a little bit of a special snowflake,” Seattle Department of Transportation’sGenesee Adkins tells CHS.

The path joins a South Seattle school playground that doubles as a public park and a West Seattle school’s daily closure of a neighborhood street to allow safer student movement among the few unique agreements forged by SDOT with Seattle Public Schools over restricting access to the public right of way.

Officials expect the path to be reopened in time for the start of the school year in September. No property is being acquired and no money will change hands. “There is no change to the right of way,” Adkins said. Continue reading →

The Cal Anderson Park Alliance invites all local treasure seekers and thrifty hipsters to enjoy an afternoon of bargain hunting that promises something for everyone. On Sunday, August 27th, residents all over Capitol Hill will populate their front lawns, apartment stoops and Cal Anderson Park with heirlooms, antiques and bric-a-brac for sale as a part of the “8th ANNUAL CAPITOL HILL GARAGE SALE DAY” from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

For this one-of-a-kind neighborhood event, no garage is no problem! Seattleites are invited to join their Capitol Hill neighbors to shop for five hours of bargains, both in Cal Anderson Park and around the neighborhood. Cal Anderson Park Alliance has plotted a map of Capitol Hill neighbors who will be hosting a more traditional garage/stoop/yard/sidewalk sale at their home. This map is available on the event website (capitolhillgaragesale.com) or at the Garage Sale information tent in Cal Anderson Park.

In Cal Anderson Park, event goers will be treated to musical wonders courtesy of DJs LA Kendall and Tony Burns. Alongside neighborhood purveyors of wonders there will also be knife sharpening courtesy of the Sustainable Capitol Hill Tool Library, as well as tasty beverages and treats available at the Capitol Hill Farmers Market just a block away (open from 11:00am until 3:00pm). Continue reading →

15th Ave E is about to lose a longtime part of its cafe scene. Modern Steep, born a decade ago as Remedy Teas, will close its 15th Ave E cafe and tea chop later this month to focus on its online business.

Changing Capitol Hill demographics, expensive equipment upgrades, and a long building construction project that left many customers wondering if the cafe was open all contributed. But the opportunity to grown the company’s online business is at the core of the decision to leave Capitol Hill, owner Christopher Glenn tells CHS.

“With rising labor costs, we’re not growing fast enough,” Glenn said, “All that said, we have been seeing an increase in traffic on our website. We have grown that side of our business. These are changing times, of course.”

The 15th Ave cafe is slated to wrap up business on August 26th, the company announced:

Thanks again for your love and support. We look forward to seeing and hearing from you as we move forward, albeit in a slightly different fashion. From now through August 26th, our physical shop will be open 11am – 6pm, Monday through Saturday. We hope to see you for a cup of tea, a smile and a hug.

Though his vats and filters are squished tightly into a Pike/Pine auto row-era building transformed into a 260-unit apartment building, Nick Crandall tells CHS there are no compromises when it comes to making beer in the new Redhook Brewlab.

“You can definitely smell when I’m brewing,” the project’s brewer said Thursday night as the new small-batch brewery and pub from the big beer brand held parties for media and the Puget Sound beer industry. More parties will follow over the next few days. The Redhook Brewlab opens officially to the public on August 17th. Continue reading →

As a bonus, while Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) reviewed ideas submitted by Your Voice, Your Choice participants, it ran the projects through its program priorities and was able to fund additional traffic calming and pedestrian improvement projects in underserved neighborhoods throughout the City. SDOT will work with communities to announce, design, and implement these projects in the upcoming year.

To provide some context to the results above, with $2 million to spend on park and street improvements, we allotted a maximum of $285,000 per City Council District. After the top projects in each district were selected by voters, there was $233,019 remaining in the budget. These dollars were used to fund one additional project in the three districts with the highest voter participation (Districts 1, 2, and 5).

You will also note that the number of funded projects varies per district. This is because the fund allotment is based strictly on overall cost and not the number of projects. The funding for these projects will be included as part of the Mayor’s 2018 Proposed Budget, and the work will begin in 2018.

This is the second year we have asked residents to weigh in on how to spend a portion of the City’s budget. Last year the focus was on youth, and this year anyone over the age of 11 could participate. We are blown away by the response with 7,737 community members voting for projects in their neighborhoods! We are so grateful to everyone who participated:

The community members who kicked things off in February by submitting 900 ideas for projects.

The community members who participated on the Project Development Teams.

The Vote Champions who mobilized their communities.

The educators in Seattle Public Schools who made sure students’ voices were heard.

Our Community Liaisons who were out in force with translated ballots in Arabic, Chinese, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

The amazing City staff at libraries and community centers who facilitated in-person voting.

Last summer, the Big Coffee(tm)-owned indie chain stopped roasting beans on 12th Ave. Later this summer, Stumptown will close its E Pine cafe to focus on its remaining Capitol Hill location.

The coffee industry-focused folks at Sprudgeconfirmed the news sent to CHS Tuesday morning by employees and customers that August 20th will be the final day for the E Pine cafe that neighbors Rudy’s and the Capitol Loans pawn shop. Sprudge reports that a company spokesperson tells them Stumptown “made the painful, yet considered decision to focus our efforts on our 12th Street cafe and our operations within the Seattle market.”

Stumptown became a wholly owned subsidiary of Peets Coffee and Tea in 2015 after the coffee chain obtained a partial ownership in 2011.

The design process to create 400 affordable and market-rate apartment units and 59,000 square feet of commercial and community space around Capitol Hill Station will move back into motion next week. Here is what the Capitol Hill Station “transit oriented development” is planned to look like.

Architects for developers Gerding Edlen and Capitol Hill Housing have submitted the second — and final — round of design proposals for the project planned to create four new seven-story buildings on Broadway and 10th Ave just north of Cal Anderson Park. The full proposal is available here (PDF).

With more than 125 years of history in Seattle, one of the largest black churches in Seattle will soon find out if its 1962-built home qualifies for landmark protection. The Mount Zion buildings at 19th and Madison will be considered by the Landmarks Preservation Board in September:

SEATTLE (August 4, 2017) – Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board will consider nomination of the Mount Zion Baptist Church (1634 19th Avenue) located in Central Area on Wednesday, September 6 at 3:30 p.m. The meeting will be held in Seattle City Hall (600 4th Avenue, Floor L2) in the Boards & Commissions Room L2-80.

The public is invited to attend the meeting and make comments regarding the nomination. Written comments should be received by the Landmarks Preservation Board at the following mailing address by 3:00 p.m. onSeptember 5:

A resident trapped in the flames was rushed to the hospital in critical condition as crews battled a serious fire at the top of Capitol Hill’s more-than-90-year-old Roxborough Apartments building Friday afternoon.

Seattle Fire was called to the building in the 1700 block of E Denny Way just before 3:30 PM Friday and found the injured woman in the third floor apartment where the fire was believed to have started. The woman in her 60s was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. Continue reading →

Post navigation

CHS CALENDAR

It’s time to revisit the finer points of higher learning, hard lessons, and hot lunch in NITE SKOOL! Get your ass to class for this genre-blending, boundary-crushing skool nite full of music, dance, comedy, and so much more as we … Continue reading →

Everyone Welcome! Workers are under attack on virtually every front–wage theft, union busting, racism and sexism on the job, and loss of healthcare and pensions. How do we fight back? In Poor Workers’ Unions, Vanessa Tait writes about women, immigrants, … Continue reading →

Join us for this very social 3.5 mile jaunt through the neighborhood followed by food and drinks at Linda’s. We keep the pace easy and the atmosphere fun. Sometimes we change location. Always check our website to confirm the run.Share:TwitterFacebookRedditEmail

Have you had a long week? Are you a morning person or would you like to be? Jump Start may be just what you’re looking for! With a combination of body care, breathing, and shakeout run, you can recover from … Continue reading →

CHS sabbatical: Taking a breakAfter a decade of neighborhood news service, CHS is on break. CHS will still be here for your archived news needs -- plus you'll find a few new features to keep you informed during our break. Meanwhile, the CHS Calendar and the Community Post section will continue to roll. Thanks for all the nice notes! Thanks for being part of CHS!